lei Italian · revision 37493

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=1274, Pietro da Bascapè|origins=la ille}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈlɛj/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''lei''' ''f'' (plural loro, masculine lui)^(Wiktionary)

+ The oldest form is ''lé'' (1274).^(DELI 1999) Nocentini dates a form ''lié'' to the end of the 12th century.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-lat|illaei]], a dative of [[la|illa|t=that (woman)]], the feminine of [[la|ille|t=that]].^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) Classical Latin had one dative, [[m|la|illī]], for both genders; popular Latin made a masculine [[la-vul|*illui]] on the model of the relative [[m|la|cui]] and then a feminine on the masculine, with the ending of feminine datives such as [[m|la|illae]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Devoto 1968|256)^(Wiktionary) Devoto–Oli explains the new form as a way of marking the feminine.^(Devoto–Oli 2026) The dative spread to all oblique cases, the accusative included.^(Nocentini 2010) The same form is [[oc|lei]] and [[ro|ei]].^(Nocentini 2010)

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+ These stressed forms were at first limited to the oblique cases; from the 15th century ⟨lui⟩ and ⟨lei⟩ gradually took the place of the subject pronouns ⟨egli⟩ and ⟨ella⟩, which by the 19th and 20th centuries survived only in literary style.^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The first record is the old form ''lé'' in Pietro da Bascapè's poem of 1274;^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) ''lei'' itself is in Dante, before 1321, in the sense “her”, the person spoken of.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003) In ''Paradiso'' 3 Dante writes: “La vista mia, che tanto lei seguio / quanto possibil fu” (my sight, which followed her as far as it could).^(GDLI|8, 935)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old Italian ''lei'' could be an indirect object without a preposition, as in Dante's “Ond'io risposi lei” (so I answered her, ''Purgatorio'' 33), and could refer to things and abstractions of feminine gender.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(Zingarelli 2010)

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+ The polite ''Lei'' began as a pronoun standing for ''Vostra Signoria'' (Your Lordship), like ''Eccellenza'', ''Santità'' and ''Magnificenza''.^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary) Its feminine gender comes from such formulas, which are grammatically feminine, like ''la Vostra persona''.^(Wiktionary) Migliorini found the first examples in the 15th century (Pontano in 1476 and Galeazzo Sforza Sanseverino in 1494), and Bembo uses it before 1547.^(DELI 1999) It gained ground over ''voi'' and ''tu'', and in 1938, after an article by Cicognani in the ''Corriere della Sera'' of 25 January, the Fascists boycotted it, but ''Lei'' went on to prevail.^(DELI 1999) Grammatically feminine, it still takes masculine adjectives for men: ''Lei è coraggioso''.^(Wiktionary)^(Treccani 2011) The noun ''il lei'', the polite form, is in Vincenzo Monti in 1809.^(DELI 1999)

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+ In modern Italian ''lei'' has also displaced ''ella'' and ''essa'' as the subject pronoun.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Colloquially ''la lei'' is a man's girlfriend or beloved, recorded by Zingarelli in 1970.^(DELI 1999)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1274 – Pietro da Bascapè uses the form ''lé''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses ''lei''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1476 – An early example of the polite ''Lei'' in Giovanni Pontano.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1547 – Pietro Bembo uses polite ''Lei''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1809 – ''Il lei'' “the polite third person” in Vincenzo Monti.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1938 – The Fascist campaign against ''Lei'' begins after Cicognani's article.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1970 – ''La lei'' “the beloved woman” is recorded in Zingarelli.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # [[m|en|she]], as a subject, now the usual form in place of ''ella'' and ''essa'', especially when emphasized or contrasted: ''lui voleva restare, lei no''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # [[m|en|her]], as a stressed object and after prepositions: ''ho visto proprio lei'', ''esco con lei stasera''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Gabrielli 2020)

+ # ''(bureaucratic)'' ''il di lei'', ''la di lei'' in place of the possessive “her”: ''la signora e il di lei avvocato''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(formal, often written Lei)'' [[m|en|you]], the polite form of address to one person of either sex: ''Lei è molto gentile''.^(Treccani 2011)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''il lei'': the polite form of address, especially in ''dare del lei'' (to address someone formally).^(Treccani 2011)^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''la lei'' ''(colloquial)'': a man's girlfriend or beloved.^(Treccani 2011)^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[colei]]

+ * [[lui]]

+ * [[loro]]

+ * [[ella]]

+ * [[le]]

+ * [[la]]

+ * [[la|ille]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural of polite ''Lei'' is ''Loro'', often replaced by the more familiar ''voi''; as an unstressed object it has the forms ''La'' and ''Le''.^(Treccani 2011) Tuscan says ''dare di lei'' for ''dare del lei''.^(Treccani 2011)

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+ An Old Italian ''lei'' meaning “law” is a shortened form of ''legge'', compare Old French and Old Occitan ''lei'';^(GDLI|8, 935)^(DEI|2198) ''lei'' is also the Hawaiian flower garland, recorded in 1952.^(DEI|2198)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}